306 Birds. 



below : this fact again incontestibly proves how great an influence 

 the character of the earth's surface may exercise over the manners 

 and manoeuvres of those fowls and animals whose geographical range 

 extends over distant and varied regions. 



•nr****** XT*** 

 8tobo Hope, July, 1843. 



Notes on the Grouse. By W . H . 



The grouse (Tetrao in Ornithology) is a genus of birds belonging 

 to the order Gallinse. In all our species there is a naked scarlet skin 

 above the eye, and the feet are covered with feathers to the toes.* 

 The following species are found in Scotland. The white grouse or 

 ])tarmigan (Tetrcio Lagopus) is about fifteen inches in length, and 

 weighs about nineteen ounces : its plumage is a pale brown or ash 

 colour, and it is only found on our highest mountains, the summits of 

 the loftiest Highlands in Scotland, the Hebrides and Orkneys : it is 

 said formerly to have inhabited the lofty hills in the neighbourhood 

 of Keswick, in Cumberland. The red game or moor-fowl {Tetrao 

 Scoticiis) is only known in the British islands : the length of the male 

 is fifteen and a half inches, and its weight nineteen ounces. The 

 black grouse or blackcock [Tetrao Tetrix) is fond of woody and 

 mountainous regions, where it finds bilberries and other mountain 

 fruits throughout the summer ; in winter it feeds on the tops of the 

 heather: a full grown blackcock measures twenty-two inches in length, 

 and weighs about four pounds. The cock of the wood [Tetrao Uro- 

 g alius) also inhabits woody mountainous countries ; forests of pine 

 afford them both shelter and food, for they devour the tops of the 

 pines in such quantities as to impart a strong and disagreeable taste 

 to their flesh : they also feed on various wild ben'ies. Although 

 these birds are common in Scandinavia, Germany, and other European 

 countries, they have never been found in any part of Great Britain 

 except the Highlands of Scotland. They are usually called caper- 

 calzie, or, in old law books, caperkally, and are supposed to be the 

 wood or great grouse of Pennant, and the Ceilingconia of the ancient 



* We may perhaps he allowed to ohserve that although in all the species the fea-j 

 thers may he said to extend to the toes, yet in two (Urogallus and Tetrix) the toe 

 themselves are naked, while in other two (Scoticus and mutus) they are clothed wit 

 feathers to their extremities : the former pair of species have been termed Tetrao, th< 

 latter pair Lagopus. This generic subdivision is, we believe, almost universally ad- 

 milted. Ed. 



